A Fondness for Pelicans

Because my father was in the Pacific during the later part of WWII, my mother went to Clearwater, Florida, to be with her parents when she came due with me. Over many if not most of the next 14 years, we spent the month of March vacationing in Florida and visiting Grandpa and Grandma in Clearwater Beach.
Of course, over the years we visited the many attractions on both coasts, and spent countless hours playing on its famous beaches. One fond revisited memory updates the flying ability of the social brown pelican, who in small groups and without more than an occasional steering wing beat, cruises great distances slantwise along beach berms, or on wings spanning six feet skims just inches above the water, as it travels to and from feeding areas.
This adult opportunistically watches fishermen casting from a pier. At times the pelican becomes the catch, as it attempts to steal even the bait from cursing fishermen, who then must capture the bird and remove the hook from its beak.